C-Cubes Current and Past Events

Science-Driven Strategy: Serving Students, Families, and Educators

April 9, 2026
Website | Photos

Hosted by The Center for Customer-Based Execution and Strategy and Leadership Partners, and led by Vikas Mittal, Ph.D., this one-day masterclass was tailored for superintendents, senior leaders and board members in K12 education and allowed them to:

• Discover why legacy strategy planning falls short and how it can be enhanced using a science-based approach to refocus and prioritize resources for measurable impact.
• Discover the power of customer focus as a strategy planning framework that benefits students, families and teachers.
• Learn the satisfaction-performance-chain (SPC), a proven, research-validated model linking school leadership actions to family engagement, student retention and academic outcomes.
• Discover how districts can use these principles to drive stronger outcomes, while simplifying execution and reducing costs.

Key Takeaways: 

• Enrollment & Funding Are at Risk – Public schools have lost more than 2 million students in recent years. Learn how a customer-focused strategy can increase retention, community trust and financial stability.
• Data-Driven, Not Guesswork – This research analyzed 10,664 K-12 parents and 150 superintendents to uncover the real factors that drive student retention and academic success.
• Stop Initiative Overload, Start Strategic Focus – 67% of district employees believe their schools suffer from too many unfocused initiatives. Learn how to streamline efforts and prioritize what truly moves the needle.
• The Secret of High-Performing Districts – The most successful districts focus on family engagement, academic rigor and strategic leadership. Discover how to implement these insights in your own district.
• Rice Business Benefit – Hear directly from Rice Business faculty on how leading districts are shifting their strategy to improve enrollment, increase outcomes and preserve funding. Dr. Mittal is one of the premier marketing professors in the nation.

Practicing Co-Leaders

Learn from K12 leaders who are at the forefront of implementing science-driven strategy:

Brandon Chandler

Superintendent of Schools, Academy of Accelerated learning

Leanne Reynolds

Head of School, River Oaks Baptist School

Rice Customer-Based Strategy Symposium
The Unshakeable Organization: Strategy fuels it. Employees live it. Customers love it.

November 18, 2025
The Ion
Photos

How do the most successful companies build strategy around the customer? Join top marketing scholars and industry leaders at the Rice Business Customer-Based Strategy Symposium for a deep dive into the models, data and insights shaping the future of customer-centric strategy. Hosted by the Center for Customer-Based Execution and Strategy, this event brings together cutting-edge academic research and real-world application.

Farid Virani

Founder & Executive Chairman, Prime Communications 

Fireside Chat with Farid Virani — "Entrepreneurial Success Through Employee and Customer Focus"

Robert Dittmar

Associate Dean of the Virani Undergraduate School of Business and Houston Endowment Professor of Finance

Fireside Chat Moderator

Laura Lopez

Senior Vice President, Marketing, Communications & Public Relations, Houston Methodist 

Session: "Multi-Tiered Customer Connectivity for Multi-Dimensional Effectiveness: A Research-Driven Strategy"

Ed Gonzalez

Sheriff, Harris County 

Session: "Courts, Cellblocks and Communities: Succeeding Through Focus & Fidelity"

Paul Chapman

Managing Partner & Co-CEO, HC Group, Rice MBA '13

Session: "Ambition Meets Success: Young CEOs Rewrite the Strategy Playbook"

Kyle Howard

President & CEO, EnSite USA, Inc., Rice MBA '20

Session: "Ambition Meets Success: Young CEOs Rewrite the Strategy Playbook"

Joshua Robinson

CEO, ITI Manufacturing, Inc., Rice MBA '21

Session: "Ambition Meets Success: Young CEOs Rewrite the Strategy Playbook"

Charlie Roseland

President, Advantage Asset Management and Precision Surfaces International, Rice MBA '12

Session: "Ambition Meets Success: Young CEOs Rewrite the Strategy Playbook"

AGENDA
 

C-CUBES CEO Roundtable Discussion Series: Corporate Political Activism

October 29, 2025
Website | Photos

Key Takeaways:

• Learned what constituted corporate political activism and why companies engaged in it.
• Discussed case studies of successes (Nike, Costco) and failures (Target, Jaguar), gaining insights into stakeholder-centered decision-making.
• Uncovered research-based evidence about the effects of corporate political activism on customers, employees, and shareholders.
• Networked with other CEOs of Greater Houston companies in an exclusive, invitation-only event for CEOs. Participants joined the roundtable to expand their networks, gain research-based insights, and affiliate with Rice Business.

Inaugural C-CUBES CEO Roundtable Discussion Series: Navigating Strategy (Mis)Alignment Between Executives and Customers

May 27, 2025
Website | Photos

Event Highlights:

• Discovered the financial benefits of aligning executives and customers using a science-based approach. The talk showed how alignment can drive sales, margins, cash flow and firm value.
• Learned about the misalignment between executives and customers in B-to-B companies. Research from 127 companies and 17,000 customers shows the misalignment.
• Heard from CEOs who increased executive and customer alignment. CEOs from Houston-based companies discussed their experience driving executive and customer alignment using a science-based strategy.
• Networked with other CEOs of Greater Houston companies. The C-CUBES CEO Roundtable is an exclusive, invitation-only event for CEOs of mid-market companies. CEOs can join the roundtable to expand their network, learn about research-based insights and affiliate with Rice Business.

Customer-Focused Leadership: Serving Students, Families, and Educators

April 10, 2025
Website | Photos

Hosted by The Center for Customer-Based Execution and Strategy and Leadership Partners, and led by Vikas Mittal, Ph.D., this one-day masterclass was tailored for superintendents and senior K-12 leaders and allowed them to:

• Discover why legacy strategy planning falls short and how it can be enhanced using a science-based approach to refocus and prioritize resources for measurable impact.
• Discover the power of customer focus as a strategy planning framework that benefits students, families and teachers.
• Learn the satisfaction-performance-chain (SPC), a proven, research-validated model linking school leadership actions to family engagement, student retention and academic outcomes.
• Discover how districts can use these principles to drive stronger outcomes, while simplifying execution and reducing costs.

Key Takeaways: 

• Enrollment & Funding Are at Risk – Public schools have lost more than 2 million students in recent years. Learn how a customer-focused strategy can increase retention, community trust and financial stability.
• Data-Driven, Not Guesswork – This research analyzed 10,664 K-12 parents and 150 superintendents to uncover the real factors that drive student retention and academic success.
• Stop Initiative Overload, Start Strategic Focus – 67% of district employees believe their schools suffer from too many unfocused initiatives. Learn how to streamline efforts and prioritize what truly moves the needle.
• The Secret of High-Performing Districts – The most successful districts focus on family engagement, academic rigor and strategic leadership. Discover how to implement these insights in your own district.
• Rice Business Benefit – Hear directly from Rice Business faculty on how leading districts are shifting their strategy to improve enrollment, increase outcomes and preserve funding. Dr. Mittal is one of the premier marketing professors in the nation.

Breakfast and Masterclass: “Net Promoter Score: Fact and Fiction in Strategy Planning”

January 14, 2025
Website | Photos

At a recent masterclass at the Ion, Professor Vikas Mittal challenged the common belief that Net Promoter Score (NPS) is the best way to measure customer loyalty. Hosted by Rice Business Executive Education and sponsored by C-CUBES, the session explored why NPS can be misleading and introduced better alternatives, like the Customer Value Index (CVI) and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). These tools offer a clearer picture of what drives customer satisfaction and business success, helping companies make smarter, more effective decisions.
 

Breakfast and Masterclass: “Cutting Strategy Clutter”

November 14, 2024
Website

An average company’s strategy is cluttered by initiatives that presumably deliver value to customers, employees and shareholders. At these companies, customers are underwhelmed from a commoditized offering, employees are overwhelmed from initiative overload and shareholders face anemic returns.

Professor Vikas Mittal led a discussion on why strategy clutter existed in many companies. The session explored case studies of companies that overcame strategy clutter through a science-based strategy approach and grew relative sales by 10–20% while also increasing margins and EBITA.

Rice Customer-Based Strategy Symposium

March 15, 2024
Shell Auditorium, McNair Hall, Rice University
Photos

Hosted annually by the Jones Graduate School of Business since 2010, the Rice Customer-Based Strategy Symposium is a premier forum for exchanging innovative ideas on customer-centered strategy planning and execution.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

AGENDA